Judge Wolff tells feds to pick up costs of jailing immigrants

Judge Wolff wants feds to pay up

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff speaks Friday October 28, 2016 during his annual "State of the County" address at the Mays Family Center at the Witte Museum. Wolff covered a multitude of subjects such as job growth, military bases, transportation, taxes, cyber missions and more.

Photo: John Davenport, Staff / San Antonio Express-News

Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff sent letters to two federal agencies Tuesday requesting a full reimbursement for the $22.3 million it has cost the county to jail undocumented immigrants over the last 12 years.

Through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, Bexar County reports undocumented inmates who have been housed for four or more consecutive days and have one felony offense or two misdemeanor offenses within a fiscal year. In return, the federal government partially reimburses Bexar County for the costs associated with incarcerating the inmates.

However, in recent years, the reimbursement has decreased about $547,000 in fiscal 2004-05 to about $99,000 in fiscal 2015-16, an 82 percent decrease. Those costs are being picked up by local taxpayers, Wolff said.

“The topic has come up about immigration and state funding,” Wolff said. “I thought it was time to make it public of how much it costs local governments. It’s not just a theoretical issue, it’s an expensive issue.”

“Bexar County is willing to comply with federal immigration laws, but this has created a large burden on local property taxpayers that should be paid for by the federal government,” Wolff wrote. “This burden on local government violates the principles of the SCAPP agreement.”

The move comes after some officials nationwide have criticized President Donald Trump’s executive orders to suspend refugee resettlement, temporarily block individuals from seven majority-Muslim nations from entering the U.S., and immediately begin construction on a U.S.-Mexico border wall.

Trump has also signed an order that would withhold federal money from so-called sanctuary cities and counties, jurisdictions where law enforcement officers don’t ask individuals about their immigration status or decline to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Some of the officials who have spoken out against Trump’s order on sanctuary cities have said the move is unconstitutional and violates states’ rights. Additionally, they say, enforcing federal immigration law could deter immigrants from reporting crimes and serving as witnesses in trials and distracts officers from real police work.

Others have said their departments don’t have the financial resources or personnel to take on additional tasks.

Wolff said he was aware of the costs associated with incarcerating undocumented immigrants through the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program, but he didn’t know how much it was.

After the issue came up last week, Wolff asked the county’s budget office to conduct an analysis of the costs. He said he was astounded by the numbers.

“We never expected it would be that big of an expense to pick up when the program started,” he said.

In reality, the costs associated with jailing undocumented immigrants is even higher, Wolff said, because the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program only reimburses the county for immigrants who have been housed for four or more consecutive days and have either one felony offense or two misdemeanor offenses within a fiscal year.

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program has been criticized before.

Research on the program conducted by the National Conference of State Legislatures in 2013 found the reimbursement amount rendered the program ineffective.

When the program was initially funded in 1995, the federal government allocated $130 million to it, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Between 2006 and 2009, it designated roughly $400 million annually.

In recent years, that decreased to $238 million, covering about 18 percent of local jailing costs, although funding has never fully reimbursed states and counties.

Wolff said the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program is just one example of how much it would cost the county if the federal government implemented additional unfunded mandates.

“Taxpayers need to know what it would cost, how high the costs would be, if they dump the burden on local governments,” Wolff said. “This would just be one piece if it.”

Emilie Eaton is a criminal justice enterprise reporter for the San Antonio Express-News, delving into homicides, police-community relations, officer-involved shootings, capital punishment and officer misconduct. Previously, Emilie worked for two years at The Cincinnati Enquirer covering child poverty, business and breaking news.

Her work has been honored in the Hearst National Journalism Awards and the Society of Professional Journalist’s Region 11 Awards, among others. In 2015, she was one of 30 students, out of 1,150 nationally, selected to participate in the Hearst 55th Annual National Journalism Awards Championship. Her work has been published by USA Today, NBCNews.com and The Center for Public Integrity, among others.

A native Californian, Emilie attended the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications at Arizona State University, where she graduated magna cum laude and was the school's commencement speaker.